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. 2017 Oct;13(4):e12389.
doi: 10.1111/mcn.12389. Epub 2016 Nov 29.

Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy: Effects on food intake and diet quality

Sarah R Crozier  1 , Hazel M Inskip  1 , Keith M Godfrey  1 , Cyrus Cooper  1 , Sian M Robinson  1 ; SWS Study Group  1
Affiliations

Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy: Effects on food intake and diet quality

Sarah R Crozier et al. Matern Child Nutr. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

Experiences of nausea and/or vomiting in pregnancy (NVP) vary greatly, but the paucity of studies with pre-pregnancy dietary data mean that little is known about the effects of NVP on diet. Using an administered food frequency questionnaire, diet was assessed before pregnancy and at 11 and 34 weeks' gestation in 2270 participants in a UK birth cohort study (Southampton Women's Survey). Experience of NVP in early pregnancy was graded as none, mild, moderate, or severe. Participants reported their level of food consumption as more, the same, or less than before pregnancy. "Prudent" diet scores (derived using principal component analysis) were used to describe participants' diet quality before, in early and late pregnancy. In early pregnancy, 89% of women were nauseous, although most commonly, the NVP experienced was mild (48%) or moderate (30%); 11% had severe NVP. A total of 39% of women reported an increase in their level of food intake in early pregnancy; 34% reported a reduction. Increasing severity of nausea was associated with changes in intake of a range of foods, most notably reduced consumption of vegetables, tea/coffee, rice/pasta, breakfast cereals, beans/pulses and citrus fruits/fruit juices and increased consumption of white bread, and soft drinks. Increasing severity of nausea was also associated with decreasing prudent diet score from before to early pregnancy, such that women with severe nausea had prudent diet scores 0.29 SDs lower than those with no nausea (P < 0.001). However, this was transient as NVP was not related to change in diet quality from before to late pregnancy.

Keywords: cohort study; diet; food frequency questionnaire; nausea; pregnancy; vomiting.

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Conflict of interest statement

KMG has received reimbursement for speaking at conferences sponsored by companies selling nutritional products, and is part of an academic consortium that has received research funding from Abbott Nutrition, Nestec and Danone. HMI declares that members of her team have received funding from Danone, Nestec and Abbott Nutrition. CC has received consultancy and honoraria from Alliance for Better Bone Health, Amgen, Eli Lilly, GSK, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Servier, Takeda and UCB. SMR and SRC have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Reported change in levels of food intake in early pregnancy compared with before pregnancy, according to experience of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (n = 2266)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Change in prudent diet in early pregnancy according to experience of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, adjusted for confounders (n = 2236)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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